Demo Play Thursday - Silent Hope On Switch

For this week's Demo Play Thursday i played the Nintendo Switch version of Silent Hope. This game, from developers Marvelous is already out on Switch and PC.

The demo for Silent Hopes seems to be taken from the start of the game, with no changes made for it being a demo, and lets us play through to finishing the first stage and letting characters get to level 10. What's great is that the save from this demo will work in the final game so you can carry over your progress.

And you may want to do that as i enjoyed the demo. This isn't the best start of a game that i've ever played, i do feel like the tutorial is missing key messages and is mostly just text on screen. But for the most part, the game will have some control over your first time diving into the abyss. it just feels that the game chose to go with immersion at the expense of its tutorial.

The demo lets us understand the basic gameplay loop. there's an abyss and the goal seems to be getting to the bottom. the demo has the first level and in it are 10 floors to go down, with things getting more difficult as we do. on top, there are other characters doing tasks we set but what's interesting is that we can swap places with them at certain points. in the demo, health recovery seemed limited so what i did was to swap out someone on low health for a new character fully healed. this made going deeper even easier.

Each character controls differently and they all have different stats. this made going deeper more enjoyable as i got to try out different styles. But there's more to this as at the end of the video i found out each of the 7 characters can unlock even more fighting styles so i imagine that'll make them feel fresh.

This demo shows that the start of the game may not be the best for new players and there are a few small things i felt could be better. but as a demo i do think that it worked well as after playing it i'm now interested in getting it. i would also like to get the soundtrack, too. the game looks great on Switch, mostly plays well, and could be a good choice if you're looking for something to play in 30 minute chunks, maybe on a commute or on breaks. the story may not be the driving force some would hope, but in combination with the gameplay and overall loop i came away from this demo thinking that it does enough.

MarvelousAQL, XSEED And Zen United Announce Rune Factory 4 Comes To Europe In Spring 2014

MarvelousAQL Europe have announced they are partnering with Zen United to Bring Rune Factory 4 to Europe. coming out Spring 2014, the game will have been translated by XSEED Games and is set to be the biggest game in the series. the game is set in the Kibngdom of Norad and you play either the Prince or Princess. your tasked to bring the town of Selphia back to prosperity. there will be hundreds of items, crops, weapons and equipment as well as a substantial story.

Press Release

Sony And XSEED Have Released A Trailer For Ys: Memories of Celceta On PS Vita

Sony and XSEED have released a new trailer for Ys: Memories of Celceta. this game is coming out on PS Vita and was previously released in Japan last year. the USA is currently announced as getting the game on 24th September this year.

MarvelousAQL Announce Harvest Moon: A New Beginning Comes To Europe On 20th September

MarvelousAQL have announced they are bringing their 3DS game Harvest Moon: A New Beginning out across Europe on 20th September. the Harvest Moon series is celebrating it's 15th anniversary and it has sold over 1 million units across Europe.

Harvest Moon: A New Beginning Features:

· Choose between a boy and girl – now with more customization options than ever before.
· One hundred different costumes and items with which to style your perfect character.
· Work on your farm to grow flowers and vegetables and take care of your animals.
· Rearrange and design your farm with a super-simple pick-up-and-drop system.
· Expanded world with exciting locations to explore, from tropical islands to ancient ruins.
· Find romance with a choice of love interests. Get married and start a family!

Press Release

Aksys Games Have Released A USA Launch Trailer For Vanillaware's PS Vita Game Muramasa Rebirth, Reveal DLC

Aksys Games and Vanillaware have released a launch trailer for the PS Vita game Muramasa Rebirth. Aksys Games have also confirmed there will be DLC which will add 4 additional characters to the game, each with their own story line, new characters and new enemies.



Press Release

Marvelous AQL Announce Harvest Moon: A New Beginning Is Coming To Europe This Year

Marvelous AQL have announced they are partnering with Zen United to bring Harvest Moon: A New Beginning to Europe this year, currently set for Q3 2013. Harvest Moon: A New Beginning is the first to be developed for the 3DS and it will be the most feature packed version of the game released so far. Europe alone, the Harvest Moon franchise has sold over 1 million units.

Press Release

Sony Announce The UK And USA Release Date For Soul Sacrifice, Reveal Boxart And Pre-Order Incentives

Sony, Marvelous AQL and Comcept have announced the USA and UK release date for the PS Vita game Soul Sacrifice. the USA will get the game first on 1st April and the UK gets it the following day on 1st May. the game will be released at retail and via the PSN.

Sony have revealed the Boxart for the game, but not revealed the amount of memory the game requires.

Sony have also revealed pre-order incentives for the game that will be not be released as DLC for the game. the incentives include 2 costumes, one each for the playable characters and the following 3 items:

• Spirits’ Flamepike – Shards of the spear provided by Fire spirits, unleashing a five hit combo attack with heat effects
• Spirits’ Blightstone – Explosive stones with poison effects provided by the spirits
• Spirits’ Fulgurwood – Root provided by the Thunder spirits. Tracks enemies on the ground and attacks with thunder spell

Another Pre-Order incentive that will be available as DLC once the game is released will be the Japanese Audio track for the game.

Source: EU and USA PlayStation Blog

Sony Have Released A Tokyo Game Show Trailer For Soul Sacrifice

Sony have released a new trailer for Soul Sacrifice. this trailer introduces co-op gameplay, either as a member of 4 player co-op multiplayer or with 3 AI characters,  and shows in-game action from this Keji Inafune and MarvelousAQL. it's also been revealed that when a team-mate dies in the game you have the option to either revive them or sacrifice them for a power-up.



Source: EU Playstation Blog

Marvelous AQL Announce Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy For Steam, Out 27th September

Marvelous AQL have announced Half Minute Hero is coming to PC's and Steam as Half Minute Hero: Super Mega Neo Climax Ultimate Boy. this PC version features all the content from the PSP and Xbox 360 versions of the game including the Hero 300 mode. the game is set to come out on Steam on 27th September, 10AM PST in the USA and 6PM GMT in the UK.

Screenshots


Press Release

Sony Have Announced Soul Sacrifice On The PS Vita Will Come To The West, Have Released New Keji Inafune Interview

Sony have announced Soul Sacrifice will come out across the USA and EU. Sony have also released a Keji Inafune interview. in the video Keji talks about his vision for Soul Sacrifice and his ideas behind the Sacrifice mechanic. the video also shows some in-game action, showing how you can sacrifice others in the game for your own benefit. the video also shows the Excalibur sacrifice, where you take out your own spine for a big attack, but at a great pain cost to the main character.



Source: EU Playstation Blog and USA Playstation Blogs